The UMass Amherst Biology Department and Mathematics and Statics Department are collaborating and bringing together biologists and mathematicians to produce computational models of cell movement in developing embryos as a starting point for a mechanistic understanding of forces that regulate cell behavior and produce animal shapes.
The primary goal of Yelena Bernadskaya and Andreas Buttenschoen's project is the production of a quantitative spatiotemporal map of forces during chordate morphogenesis parameterized using imaging data of the Ciona robusta embryo tail formation. This map will serve as a starting point for further investigation into regulation of embryonic cell dynamics.